Hornsby Based Accountants, Business Tax Agents and Consultants
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Are you on top of your obligations as an employer with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)? Here are some reminders for paying super for your employees: * The super guarantee rate you pay your employees increased this financial year to 11.0%. * Most employees are eligible for super and some contractors, too. Check your employment contract and working arrangement for each worker to work out if you have to pay super. |
The monthly consumer price index (CPI) for the 12 months to January was 3.4%, the same as December 2023, which was the lowest inflation reading since November 2021, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Inflation was driven by increases in housing costs, including rents (up 7.4%), new dwelling purchases (up 4.8%) and electricity (up 0.8%).
Other significant contributors were food and non-alcoholic beverages (up 4.4%), alcohol and tobacco (up 6.7%) and insurance and financial services (up 8.2%).
As a small business owner, you can take advantage of one of four capital gains tax (CGT) concessions offered by the Australian Tax Office.
These allow you to reduce, disregard or defer some capital gain from an active asset used in your small business.
Eligibility
These concessions become available when you dispose of an active asset, provided you meet certain eligibility requirements.
First, you must be one of the following:
The wage price index, which measures changes in the price of labour, rose 0.9% for the December 2023 quarter, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
This was the highest quarterly increase since March 2009 and meant that average wages rose 4.2% for the whole of 2023.
Both public and private sectors saw increases, with public sector wages rising 4.3% over 2023 and private sector increasing 4.2% for the year.
This is the first time since December 2020 that the public sector has overtaken the private sector.
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The latest Household, Incomes and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey reveals that over the past two decades, the country’s highest earners have received significantly more tax relief than the average worker due to the phenomenon of ‘bracket creep’. The HILDA survey, conducted by the University of Melbourne, tracks economic well-being and other aspects of life in Australia. |
New research from the Productivity Commission has found there is still plenty of untapped potential in artificial intelligence (AI) for Australian businesses.
In the report, the Commission details several ways in which AI can address productivity in business, including:
* Skill and labour gaps: AI has the ability to add skills through potentially automating some tasks, leading to a smarter use of the limited workforce.
Around half of Australia’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) struggle to secure finance from traditional lenders with terms that suit their needs. According to the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) a recent survey of SMEs revealed that respondents believe banks have tightened lending standards, making it harder to get loans.
Banks themselves have reported being more cautious lending to sectors that are more exposed to a slowing economy.
The requirement to use residential property as collateral for loans has been a problem for SMEs for a while.
The Australian Tax Office (ATO) is intensifying its efforts to address business tax debt as a result of what it calls concerning trends, particularly made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Small businesses have come under fire for late and non-tax payments by the Australian Tax Office (ATO). During an address by the ATO deputy commissioner Vivek Chaudhary, he noted that payment culture, once prompt and successful, has swayed since the pandemic with many small businesses accumulating tax debts.
The ATO will return to business-as-usual when collecting overdue debt to reset expectations of cancelling or lowering penalties.
The ATO will focus on five areas:
* Unpaid superannuation payments